Officials: Rebuild the Burnell Memorial Bridge

A handful of people told the state Department of Transportation on Wednesday night to rebuild the Burnell Boulevard bridge at once rather than in two phases.

"We recommended for the project to close the entire bridge ... rather than keep it open and stretch construction forever," said Gjon Sulaj, director of operations and maintenance for the Norwalk Transit District, whose Wheels buses travel over the bridge.

The DOT arranged the meeting to outline the estimated $15-million project, which is slated to begin in fall 2010 with replacement of the span over the Metro-North Railroad Danbury Branch tracks, and continue in 2012 with the replacement of the span over the Norwalk River.

During Phase One, all traffic would be detoured. During Phase Two, a single westbound lane would remain open. Whether that lane would be for buses only, or for all motorists remains to be determined.

"If it was a full detour for the second phase, the construction duration really shrinks. The projects goes much quicker, if the bridge is closed. That is true," said Mark F. Levesque, engineer with Close, Jensen and Miller, P.C., the consulting firm assisting the DOT with the bridge replacement.

According to DOT officials, however, Phase Two will consume the bulk of the costs, and the transportation department now is financially constrained. As such, Phase One can be done more quickly and started first.

Chris McMahon, owner of McMahon Ford at Main Street and Burnell Boulevard, said shortening the project to two years would still be a "long time."

"And frankly, I see it as more of a hardship for the smaller businesses on main Street, rather than my business," McMahon said.

Councilman Richard A. Bonenfant foresees problems for businesses along Main Street and for motorists who would choose Cross Street as a detour.

"The next street up, cross street, can be quite a nightmare to make a left, if you're heading north," Bonenfant said. "That gets pretty backed up, because cars are coming down and nobody let's you go."

Wheels bus traffic was of concern to Councilwoman Amanda M. Brown.

"So the whole bridge is going to be closed for three months, no matter what?" Brown said. "When you close the bridge, you do affect the Wheels buses. What happens to them ... that's going to be very important."

Richard Linnartz, principal engineer in the city's Department of Public Works, said "very little traffic" travels the bridge eastbound, from River Street to Main Street. Buses cannot easily turn the corner at Wall and Main streets, according to Linnartz.

"We don't want to bring all the buses into the Wall Street/Main Street intersection, which has a very poor turning radius," Linnartz said. "There's a reason to want to keep the bridge open westbound. There is no pressing need to keep it open eastbound."

The existing bridge carries 4,300 cars and trucks a day. The structure is 40 year old and suffers from wear and tear, including water scouring the river pier, rust of the superstructure, and deterioration of the road surface.

"The pier in the river is not in good condition. Our priority, however, is the railway span," said Mary E. Baker, transportation engineer and bridge design consultant at the DOT. "They have tried to patch the deck, and that has not been successful. ... That's why we're here to do a long-term fix."